12.30.2008

So I've been off of work since Christmas Eve Eve and it has been fantastic. We stayed here in the Cleve for Christmas and had a great holiday here with our little family. Candace already blogged about it here, so I'll just say that it was great. Candace got me a cavernous new external hard drive, so look out, Internet. I am coming for you.

It's been great being home. We've been relaxing, hanging out with friends, eating disgusting amounts of ham and watching lots and lots of Star Wars. (Big thanks to my parents who bought us the Original Trilogy set on DVD, which - for all you Star Wars nerds out there - includes the original, non-Special Edition versions on the bonus disc. Which is awesome. No wussy screaming for Luke as he throws himself down the air chute in Empire! Yay! Also, big thanks to Philippe for a VHS set of the OT. Nice find, my friend. And another shout out to Aunt Lilia who rocked the house for our girls. She made this Princess Leia dress and bun set for Sadie's Barbie dolls that is just amazing. I will post pictures soon. Unless I forget. Which is very likely.)

We've also been keeping remarkably busy. We did some pretty unbelievable cleaning/organizing, most especially in the "middle room" (our craft/computer room) which has been the shame of my existence for a while now. We whipped that room into shape like a mamma jamma. It looks freaking amazing now.

So today was "Do Some Arty Projects, Dylan" Day, apparently. I did not have it marked on my calendar, so it sort of snuck up on me. But it was loads of fun. Once I got started, I was thinking to myself, "Dang! I should do this type of stuff for a living!" And then I remembered that I do, so yeah, I've got that going for me.

It kicked off this morning when I finished this poster I'd started a few weeks ago. It's available in the shop if you're interested. We'll be listing a few other color options for it as well over the next few days. Here's pictures:

Then I whipped up a "Don't Eat Pete!" board for a little family game night. Candace has rules posted here, and you can download your own board here and play. Just grab some kids from somewhere (please make sure to ask permission first if they're not yours/if you don't have custody of them) and get playing. M&M's not included.

After that, I started working on a couple of upcoming BRR Mixxes that need artwork for them. The first one was another Ping Pong mix I had made with the Bryan Hitch of webcomics, the Chris Haley. It's titled & Away We Go! Here's the inked artwork I sent to Chris to work his color mojo on:

That's me with the balloons and Chris with the cape. If you haven't done so already, go check out his & Curt's webcomic Let's Be Friends Again. It's funny stuff.

Finally, I finished off a huge stonerish collage for January's mix, Electric Freak Out, made from a buttload of late-70's National Geographic magazines and a warped, overactive imagination. And tape. It's 100% analog, ballerz. No digitalism involved. Well, except for the scanning part. Click for biggification:

So anyway, I'm going to bed. Just thought I'd hip you cats to what I've been up to. Happy New Year if I don't post again before then. 2009's gonna rule.